As pointed out in our
last, the main divisions of Davidís sacred song in 2 Samuel 22 are more or
less clearly marked. In the first (vv. 1-4) he is occupied with extolling
Jehovahís perfections: this section we have already considered. In the
second (vv. 5-20), which is now to be before us, he magnifies the Lord for
His delivering mercies. The section of the song is couched in highly
figurative and poetic language; which indicates how deeply stirred were the
emotions of its inspired composer. Its contents may be regarded in a
threefold way. First, as depicting the physical dangers to which David was
exposed from his human foes. Second, the deep soul distress which he
experienced from his spiritual enemies. Third, the fearful sufferings
through which Christ passed while acting as the Substitute of His people,
and the awe-inspiring deliverance which God wrought for His servant. We will
endeavor to consider our passage from each of these viewpoints.

"When the waves
(pangs) of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; the
sorrows (cords) of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented
(anticipated) me" (2 Sam. 22:5, 6). Thus opens this second division:
that which it so vividly portrayed is the large number and ferocity of his
enemies, and the desperate danger to which David was exposed by them. First,
he employed the figure of an angry sea, whose raging waves menaced him from
every side, until his frail craft was in immediate prospect of being swamped
by them. Next, he likened his lot to one who was marooned on some piece of
low-lying ground, and the floods rapidly rising higher and higher, till his
destruction seemed certain. The multitude of the wicked pressed him sorely
on every side. Then he compared his plight to one who had already been taken
captive and bound, so that the very cords of death seemed to be upon him.
Finally, he pictures his case as a bird that had been caught in the fowlerís
snare, unable to fly away.

The above references
were to the attempts made by Saul, Abner and Absalom to capture and slay
David. So fierce were their attacks, so powerful the forces they employed
against him, so determined and relentless were his foes, that David here
acknowledged they "made me afraid." "The most sea-worthy bark
is sometimes hard put to it when the storm Hood is abroad. The most
courageous man, who as a rule hopes for the best, may sometimes fear the
worst" (C. H. Spurgeon). Strong as his faith generally was, yet on one
occasion unbelief prevailed to such an extent that David said, "I shall
now perish one day by the hand of Saul" (1 Sam. 27:1). When terrors
from without awaken fears within, our case is indeed a miserable one: yet so
it was with Moses when he fled from Egypt, with Elijah when he ran away from
Jezebel, with Peter when he denied his Lord.

But these lamentations
of David are also to be construed spiritually: they are to be
regarded as those harrowing exercises of soul through which he passed in his
later years: Psalms 32 and 51 cast light upon them. "The sorrows
(cords) of Hell compassed me about; the snares of death anticipated
me": such was the anguish of his soul under the lashings of a guilty
conscience. "The temptations of Satan and the consciousness of his sins
filled him with fears of wrath and dreadful apprehensions of future
consequences. He felt like a malefactor bound for execution, whose fetters
prevent him from attempting an escape, for whose body the grave hath
certainly opened her mouth, and who is horribly alarmed lest the pit of bell
should swallow up his soul" (Thomas Scott). Fearful beyond words is the
suffering through which many a backslider has to pass ere he is restored to
fellowship with Godóone who has experienced it will not deem the language
of these verses any too strong.

But there is something
deeper here than the trials David encountered either from without or within:
in their ultimate sense these verses articulate the groanings of the Man of
sorrows as He took upon Him the obligations and suffered in the stead of His
people. As we pointed out in our last, two of the verses of this song are
quoted in the New Testament as being the very words of Christ Himself:
"In Him will I trust" (v. 3) is found in Hebrews 2:13, and "I
will give thanks unto Thee O Lord, among the heathen (Gentiles), and I will
sing praises unto Thy name" (v. 50) is found in Romans 15:9. "The
Messiah our Saviour is evidently, over and beyond David or any other
believer, the main and chief subject of this Song; and while studying it we
have grown more and more sure that every line has its deeper and profounder
fulfillment in Him" (C. H. Spurgeon). Let this be kept before us as we
pass from section to section, and from verse to verse.

"When the waves
(pangs) of death compassed Me, the floods of ungodly men made Me afraid; the
sorrows (cords) of hell compassed Me about; the snares of death prevented
(anticipated) Me." Here was the Spirit of Christ speaking prophetically
through the Psalmist, expressing the fierce conflict through which the
Redeemer passed. Behold Him in Gethsemane, in the judgment-halls of Herod
and Pilate, and then behold Him on the Cross itself, suffering horrible
torments of body and anguish of soul, when He was delivered into the hands
of wicked men, encountered the fierce assaults of Satan, and endured the
wrath of God against Him for our sins. It was then that He was surrounded by
the insulting priests and people. His "My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death" (Matthew 26:38) was but an echo of these words of
Davidís song.

"In my distress I
called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of
His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears" (v. 7). Here we behold
Godís suffering servant making earnest supplication to heaven. The one so
sorely pressed by his enemies that the eye of sense could perceive not a
single avenue of escape, yea, when death itself immediately threatened him,
seeks relief from above, and so it should be with us: "Is any among you
afflicted? let him pray" (James 5:13). Ah, it is then he is most likely
to really pray: cold and formal petitions do not suit one who is in
deep troubleóalas that so often nothing short of painful trial will force
fervent supplications from us. An old writer expressed it, "Prayer is
not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of earnestness, but the
feeling of it; it is the cry of faith in the ear of mercy": yet either
pangs of body or of soul are usually needed before we will cry out in
reality.

"In my distress I
called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of
His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears" (v. 7). So many neglect
prayer when they are quiet and at ease, but as the Lord declares, "In
their affliction they will seek Me early" (Hosea 5:15). Yet it
is well if we do seek unto God in our affliction, instead of sulking in
rebellion, which is to forsake our own mercy. The Lord is a very present
help in trouble, and it is our holy privilege to prove this for ourselves.
The Hebrew word for "cried" here is an expressive one, signifying
such a cry as issues from one in a violent tempest of emotion, in the
extremity of grief and anxiety: in fact Alexander Maclaren renders it
"shriek." David was all but sinking and could only give vent to an
agonized call or help.

"Prayer is that
postern gate which is left open even when the city is straightly besieged by
the enemy: it is that way upward from the pit of despair to which the
spiritual miner flies at once, when the floods from beneath break forth upon
him. Observe that he Ďcalls,í and then Ďcriesí; prayer grows
in vehemence as it proceeds. Note also that he first invokes his God under
the name of Jehovah, and then advances to a more familiar name, Ďmy Godí:
thus faith increases by exercise, and he whom we at first viewed as Lord is
soon seen to be our God in covenant. It is never an ill time to pray: no
distress should prevent us from using the divine remedy of
supplication" (C. H. Spurgeon).

"In my distress I
called upon the Lord, and cried to my God." The fulfillment of these
prophetic words in the case of out suffering Redeemer is well known to all
who are acquainted with the four Gospels. Blessed indeed is it to behold
that One, who was supremely the Man after Godís own heart, betaking
Himself to prayer while His enemies were thirsting for His blood. The deeper
His distress, the more earnestly did He call upon God, both in Gethsemane
and at Calvary, and as Hebrews 5:7 tells us, "Who in the days of His
flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in
that He feared." Let us not hesitate, then, to follow the example which
He has left us, and no matter how hardly we are pressed, how desperate be
our situation, nor how acute our grief, let us unburden ourselves to God.

"And he did hear
my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears." This
is in explanation of all that follows: the gracious interpositions of the
Lord on Davidís behalf and the wondrous deliverances He wrought for him,
were in answer to prayer. Godís lending a willing ear to the cry of
His distressed child is recorded for our encouragement. It is indeed
deplorable that we are often so prayerless until pressure of circumstances
force supplication out of us, yet it is blessed to be assured that God does
not then (as well He might) turn a deaf ear unto our calls; nay, such calls
have the greater prevalency, because of their sincerity and because they
make a more powerful appeal unto the divine pity. Let the fearing and
despondent believer read through Psalm 107 and mark how frequently it is
recorded that the redeemed "cry unto the Lord in their trouble,"
and how that in each instance we are told "He delivered them" Then
do you cry unto Him, and be of good courage.

"Then the earth
shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because He
was wroth" (v. 8). Davidís prayer was answered in a most effectual
manner by the providential interpositions which Jehovah made on his behalf.
In a most singular and extraordinary way the Lord appeared for his relief,
fighting for him against his enemies. Here again David adorned his poem with
lively images as he recorded Godís gracious intervention. The mighty power
of God was now exercised for him: such language being employed as to
intimate that nothing can resist or impede Him when He acts for His own. God
was now showing Himself to be strong on behalf of His oppressed but
supplicating servant. See here, dear reader, the response of heaven to the
cry of faith. "Then the earth shook and trembled": let these words
be pondered in the light of "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed .
. . and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of
the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened,
and every oneís bands were loosed" (Acts 16:25,26)!

Again we would remind
the reader that a greater than David is to be kept before us as we pass from
verse to verse of this Psalm. "Then the earth shook and trembled; the
foundations of heaven moved and shook, because He was wroth:" who can
fail to be reminded of the supernatural phenomena which attended the death
and resurrection of Davidís Son and Lord? He too had called upon Jehovah
in His deep distress, "And was heard" (Heb. 5:7). Unmistakable was
heavenís response: "from the sixth hour there was darkness over all
the land unto the ninth hour . . . Jesus, when He had cried again with a
loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the
rocks rent; and the graves were opened" (Matthew 27:45, 50-52). Yes,
the earth literally "shook and trembled"! As another has rightly
said, "Tremendous was the scene! Never before and never since was such
a battle fought, or such a victory gained, whether we look at the contending
powers or the consequences resulting Heaven on the one side, and hell on the
other: such were the contending powers. And as to the consequences
resulting, who shall recount them?"

"There went up a
smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals were
kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was
under His feet" (vv. 9, 10). These expressions are borrowed from the
awe-inspiring phenomena which attended the appearing of Jehovah upon mount
Sinai: compare Exodus 19:16-18. It was Jehovah the Avenger appearing to
vindicate His servant and vanquish his enemies. David considered that in his
case the Lord God manifested the same divine perfections which He had
displayed of old at the giving of the Law. We cannot do better here than
quote from Matthew Henryís comments on the spiritual significance of the
vivid imagery which was here employed by the Psalmist.

"These lofty
metaphors are used. First, to set forth the glory of God, which was
manifested in his deliverance: His wisdom and power, His goodness and
faithfulness, His justice and holiness, and His sovereign dominion over all
the creatures and all the counsels of men, which appeared in favour of
David, were as clear and bright a discovery of Godís glory to an eye of
faith, as those would have been to an eye of sense. Second, to set forth Godís
displeasure against his enemies: God so espoused his cause, that he showed
Himself an Enemy to all his enemies; His anger is set forth by a smoke out
of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth. Who knows the power and terror
of His wrath! Third, to set forth the vast confusion which his enemies were
put into and the consternation that seized them; as if the earth had
trembled and the foundations of the world had been discovered. Who can stand
before God, when He is angry? Fourth, to show how ready God was to help him:
He Ďrode upon a cherub, and did flyí (v.11). God hastened to his succour,
and came in to him with seasonable relief."

"And He rode upon
a cherub, and did fly: and He was seen upon the wings of the wind" (v.
11). Though the Lord "wait that He may be gracious" (Isa.
30:18), and sometimes sorely tries faith and patience, yet when His
appointed time comes, He acts swiftly. "And He made darkness
pavilions round about Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies"
(v. 12): just as that pillar of fire which gave light to Israel was "a
cloud and darkness" to the Egyptians (Ex. 14:20), so were the
providential dealings of the Lord unto the enemies of David. The One who is
pleased to reveal Himself unto His own, conceals Himself from the wicked,
and hence the fearful portion of those who shall be everlastingly banished
from the presence of the Lord is represented as "the blackness of
darkness forever."

"Through the
brightness before Him were coals of fire kindled. The Lord thundered from
heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. And He sent out arrows, and
scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. And the channels of the sea
appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of
the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils"(vv. 13-16). All
of this is an amplification of "because He was wroth" (v. 8).
Nothing so arouses Jehovahís indignation as injuries done to His people:
he who attacks them, touches the apple of His eye. True, God is not subject
to those passions which govern His creatures, yet because He hates sin with
a perfect hatred and sorely punishes it, He is often represented under such
poetic imagery as is suited to human understanding. God is a God to be
feared, as those who now trifle with Him shall yet discover. How shall puny
men be able to face it out with the Almighty, when the very mountains
tremble at His presence! Satan-deluded souls may now defy Him, but their
false confidence will not support or shelter them in the dread day of His
wrath.

"He sent from
above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters; He delivered me from my
strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for
me" (vv. 17, 18). Here is the happy issue to Davidís prayer and the
Lordís response. Observe, first, that David gives God the glory by
unreservedly ascribing his deliverance unto Him He looked far above his own
skill in slinging the stone which downed Goliath and his cleverness in
eluding Saul: "He sent . . . He took me, He drew
me . . . He delivered me" gives all the honor unto Him to whom
it was truly due. Note, second, the particular reason mentioned by David as
to why the Lord had intervened on his behalf: "for they were too
strong for me"óit was his confessed weakness and the strength of his
foes that made such a powerful appeal to Godís pity: compare the effectual
plea of Jehoshaphat: "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have
no might against this great company that cometh against us" (2 Chron.
20:12). Finally, while the "strong enemy" of verse 18 is an
allusion to either Goliath or Saul, yet Davidís deliverance from them but
prefigured Christís victory over death and Satan, and here He ascribed
that victory unto His God.